Conventionally, air conditioners are controlled by operating an ancillary remote controller. The user operates the button on the remote controller, whereby information of controlling the air conditioner is transmitted to the air conditioner main unit through infrared communication. The air conditioner main unit initiates an operation upon receiving the control information. The air conditioner main unit notifies the user of receiving control information by sounding a beep or the like. Whether the appliance is operating as desired or not is confirmed visually. This may also be confirmed by the beeping sound from the appliance. Such confirmation is allowed since the user controls the appliance within the coverage of the signal under infrared communication. In other words, the user can conduct remote-control of the appliance only in the range where the signal of infrared communication can be reached.
To effect control of an electrical household appliance such as an air conditioner, it was necessary to use a dedicated remote controller associated with each appliance. The user had to administer a plurality of remote controllers corresponding to the number of the appliances he/she posses.
To solve such a problem, development of a universal remote controller taking advantage of a network is in progress. A universal remote controller can control a plurality of appliances through one remote controller.
The architecture of a network to derive the maximum performance of a universal remote controller is also in progress. The communication standard of ECHONET (R), for example, is one of such networks. Household appliances are connected to a communication network called the ECHONET (R) to allow control from a control apparatus on the network.
Various approaches have been proposed based on such techniques. Specifically, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-232978 (Patent Document 1) discloses a remote controller transmitting control information including an ID for identifying a target device that is to be controlled, and a converter converting the control information into a protocol suited to the device that is to be controlled, directed to controlling devices connected to the network. Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2002-34023 (Patent Document 2) discloses a communication system transmitting to a base apparatus the information entered by the user through a touch panel on a display device when the user is to control a device located far away. The base apparatus transmits control signals that are a converted version of the information towards the target under-control device.
However, Patent Document 1 discloses the problem that the cost is increased when control information of appliances connected to the network is to be converted into a protocol corresponding to the network. This is because, in order to realize such network communication control, high-level circuits such as a memory circuit and control device having a capacity considerably greater than that of the software in conventional apparatuses are required. The reason why such high-level circuits are required is due to the large capacity and high level of software and the like. In the case where an appliance is controlled through the network, there may be an event of a plurality of users controlling a plurality of appliances using a plurality of universal remote controllers. This corresponds to the case where high-level control complying with the plurality of users is required. For example, the control and user interface may have to differ for each user. The foregoing converter provides no measures for such circumstances.
A similar problem occurs in the case where control signals corresponding to a converted version of the input information are to be transmitted, as disclosed in Patent Document 2. This control system simply converts the protocol. It provides no solving means for a high-level circuit and the like in accordance with the networked appliance. Thus, a similar problem occurs.
In view of the foregoing, an object of the present invention is to provide a control device that can control at high level an appliance connected to a network, particularly an appliance connected to a network and absent of a high-level circuit, a communication device for control, a relay device, a control system, a control method, a control program to realize the control method, and a computer-readable recording medium having the program recorded.